Huawei To Boost Jobs In Europe

Huawei is to set up an R&D centre in Bristol as part of its plan to hire 5,500 more people in Europe where it already has 7,700 employees.

Huawei’s acting CEO, Guo Ping, says that the number of R&D jobs in the UK will rise from an expected 140 at the end of this year to 300 by 2017.

Huawei gets as much revenue from the EMEA market – 35% of total revenues – as it gets from the China market. Customers include Vodafone, Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, and BT.

Huawei’s renewed focus on Europe come after the US has effectively debarred Huawei from the US market. The US Congress issued a report in 2012 recommending that US carriers should not buy Huawei equipment due to spying concerns.

That was before Edward Snowden revealed the extent of US spying activity.

Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei, says wants Huawei to be seen as a European company.